Govt to provide Rp 700 billion quake assistance for West Sumatra

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang

The central government will allocate Rp 700 billion (US$76 million) to assist in the earthquake recovery efforts currently underway in West Sumatra.

West Sumatra Governor Gamawan Fauzi said a schedule for the disbursement of the funds would be discussed at the House of Representatives in Jakarta. The funds are covered by the 2007 state budget for natural disasters.

He said the province suffered losses of more than Rp 1.6 trillion following the March 6 earthquake. From 11 mayoralties and regencies hit by the earthquake, only Agam regency is still at emergency status. The remaining regions have officially entered the recovery phase.

"The central government has agreed to provide Rp 700 billion in assistance. The government has a Rp 2 trillion budget for natural disasters, but since the fund is also being used to assist other disaster-hit areas, landslide victims in Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, West Sumatra, will receive Rp 700 billion for the first phase," he said.

Gamawan said he would also request the shifting of special budgets allocated for non-physical purposes to aid the province's quake-hit mayoralties and regencies. These requests will be made to the National Education Ministry, the Health Ministry and the State Ministry for Resettlement.

He said the funds shift should raise enough money to restore schools, medical services, roads and markets affected by the disaster.

He said the Rp 700 billion channeled by the central government would be used to restore educational facilities and housing for quake victims. The owners of some 4,000 badly-damaged houses will receive Rp 15 million in cash assistance.

"The assistance will be directly distributed to each mayoralty and regency. The local administration will be responsible for dealing with the recovery work," Gamawan said.

He said the owners of damaged houses in Tanahdatar and Solok regencies would receive funds from the Social Service Ministry's budget.

He said third-party donations had amounted to Rp 4 billion, excluding funds raised through cooperation with cell phone operators.

"The cash assistance was considered to be outside emergency-phase aid, which is mostly logistic supplies and a total of 700 trucks that have been directly distributed to disaster sites," Gamawan said.

He said management of the disaster involves a five-stage process that will be completed in the next two years. The process covers emergency, recovery, reconstruction, mitigation and alert phases.

During the mitigation phase, local administrations will be instructed to prevent residents from building houses in quake-prone areas, while the alert phase will involve training in schools and offices for dealing with disasters.

"I've sent letters to all mayors and regents in West Sumatra to create a local ordinance on mitigation and disaster alerts," he said.